Laptop Stolen, 1,500 Patients Affected

Officials at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson and the Mississippi Department of Health are notifying nearly 1,500 patients of a data breach.

The patients have participated in research studies and their information was in two password-protected databases on an unencrypted laptop, which was briefly left unsecured at a clinic. The first database contained medical record numbers, age, sex, race, zip code and blinded test results on about 1,400 patients who are being notified by mail. Because names, Social Security numbers and financial information were not in the database, the medical center and health department are not offering paid credit or identity protection services.